Pythagoras of Samos is an ancient Greek mathematician, philosopher and mystic, the founder of the Pythagorean school. The years of his life are 570-490. BC e. Our article will present to your attention the biography of Pythagoras, his main achievements, as well as interesting facts about this great man.
Where is truth and where is fiction?
It is difficult to separate the life story of this thinker from the legends that represented him as a perfect sage, as well as initiated into the mysteries of the barbarians and Greeks. Herodotus called this man "the greatest Hellenic sage." Below you will be presented with the biography of Pythagoras and his works, which should be treated with a certain degree of doubt.
The earliest known sources about the teachings of this thinker appeared only 200 years after his death. However, it is on them that the biography of Pythagoras is based. He himself did not leave any works to his descendants, therefore all information about his teaching and personality is based only on the works of his followers, who were not always impartial.
Origin of Pythagoras
Pythagoras' parents are Parthenides and Mnesarchus from the island of Samos. Pythagoras' father was, according to one version, a stone cutter, according to another, a rich merchant who received citizenship of Samos for distributing bread during a famine. The first version is preferable, since Pausanias, who testified to this, gives the genealogy of this thinker. Parthenis, his mother, was later renamed Pyphaida by her husband (more on this below). She came from the family of Ankeus, a noble man who founded a Greek colony on Samos.
Pythia's prediction
The great biography of Pythagoras was supposedly predetermined even before his birth, which seemed to have been predicted at Delphi by the Pythia, which is why he was called that way. Pythagoras means "he who was announced by the Pythia." This fortuneteller allegedly told Mnesarch that the future great man would bring as much good and benefit to people as anyone else would later. To celebrate this, the child’s father even gave a new name to his wife, Pyphaidas, and named his son Pythagoras. Pyphaida accompanied her husband on trips. Pythagoras was born in Sidon Phoenician around 570 BC. e.
This thinker, according to ancient authors, met with many famous sages of that time: Egyptians, Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, absorbing the knowledge accumulated by humanity. Sometimes in popular literature Pythagoras is also credited with the Olympic victory in boxing competitions, confusing the philosopher with his namesake, the son of Crates, also from the island of Samos, who won the 48 games a little earlier, 18 years before the philosopher appeared on light.
Pythagoras goes to Egypt
Pythagoras at a young age went to the country of Egypt to gain secret knowledge and wisdom from the priests here. Porphyry and Diogenes write that Polycrates, the Samian tyrant, provided this philosopher with a letter of recommendation to Amasis (Pharaoh), because of which he began to be taught and initiated not only into the achievements of mathematics and medicine in Egypt, but also into the sacraments that were for other foreigners were forbidden.
At the age of 18, as Iamblichus writes, the biography of Pythagoras is supplemented by the fact that he left the island and got to Egypt, traveling around all kinds of sages from various parts of the world. He stayed in this country for 22 years, until Cambyses, the Persian king, took him among the captives to Babylon, who in 525 BC. e. conquered Egypt. Pythagoras stayed in Babylon for another 12 years, communicating here with magicians, until he was finally able to return to Samos at the age of 56, where his compatriots recognized him as the wisest of people.
This thinker, according to Porphyry, left his native island due to disagreements with the local tyrannical power exercised by Polycrates, at the age of 40. Since this information is based on the testimony of Aristoxenus, who lived in the 4th century BC. e., they were considered relatively reliable. In 535 BC. e. Polycrates came to power. Therefore, the date of birth of Pythagoras is considered to be 570 BC. e., if we assume that he left for Italy in 530 BC. e. According to Iamblichus, Pythagoras moved to this country during the 62nd Olympiad, that is, in the period from 532 to 529. BC e. This information correlates well with Porphyry, but completely contradicts the legend of Iamblichus about the captivity of Pythagoras in Babylon. Therefore, it is not known for sure whether this thinker visited Phenicia, Babylon or Egypt, where, according to legend, he gained eastern wisdom. The short biography of Pythagoras, provided to us by various authors, is very contradictory and does not allow us to draw an unambiguous conclusion.
Life of Pythagoras in Italy
It is unlikely that the reason for the departure of this philosopher could have been disagreements with Polycrates; rather, he needed the opportunity to preach and put his teaching into practice, which was difficult to achieve in Ionia, as well as mainland Hellas. He went to Italy because he believed that there were more people here who were capable of learning.
The short biography of Pythagoras, compiled by us, continues. This thinker settled in Southern Italy, in Crotona, a Greek colony, where he found numerous followers. They were attracted not only by the convincingly presented mystical philosophy, but also by a way of life that included strict morality and healthy asceticism.
Pythagoras preached the moral ennoblement of the people. It could be achieved where power is in the hands of knowledgeable and wise people, to whom the people obey unconditionally in one thing and consciously in another, as a moral authority. It is Pythagoras who is traditionally credited with introducing such words as “philosopher” and “philosophy”.
Brotherhood of the Pythagoreans
The disciples of this thinker formed a religious order, a kind of brotherhood of initiates, which consisted of a caste of like-minded people who deified the teacher. This order actually came to power in Croton, but at the end of the 6th century BC. e. Due to anti-Pythagorean sentiments, the philosopher had to go to Metapontum, another Greek colony, where he died. Here, 450 years later, during the reign of Cicero (1st century BC), the crypt of this thinker was shown as a local landmark.
Pythagoras had a wife named Theano, as well as a daughter Mia and a son Telaugus (according to another version, the children's names were Arignota and Arimnest).
When did this thinker and philosopher die?
Pythagoras, according to Iamblichus, led the secret society for 39 years. Based on this, the date of his death is 491 BC. e., when the period of the Greco-Persian wars began. Referring to Heraclides, Diogenes said that this philosopher died at the age of 80, or even 90, according to other unnamed sources. That is, the date of death from here is 490 BC. e. (or, less likely, 480). In his chronology, Eusebius of Caesarea indicated 497 BC as the year of death of this thinker. e.
Scientific achievements of Pythagoras in the field of mathematics
Pythagoras is today considered the great cosmologist and mathematician of antiquity, but early evidence does not mention such merits. Iamblichus writes about the Pythagoreans that they had a custom of attributing all achievements to their teacher. This thinker is considered by ancient authors to be the creator of the famous theorem that in a right triangle the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of its legs (Pythagorean theorem). The biography of this philosopher, as well as his achievements, is in many ways dubious. The opinion about the theorem, in particular, is based on the testimony of Apollodorus the calculator, whose identity has not been established, as well as on poetic lines, the authorship of which also remains a mystery.
Modern historians suggest that this thinker did not prove the theorem, but could convey this knowledge to the Greeks, which was known 1000 years ago in Babylon before the time when the biography of the mathematician Pythagoras dates back to. Although there is doubt that this particular thinker was able to make this discovery, no compelling arguments can be found to challenge this point of view.
In addition to proving the above theorem, this mathematician is also credited with the study of integers, their properties and proportions.
Aristotle's discoveries in the field of cosmology
Aristotle in his work “Metaphysics” touches on the development of cosmology, but the contribution of Pythagoras is not voiced in any way in it. The thinker we are interested in is also credited with the discovery that the Earth is round. However, Theophrastus, the most authoritative author on this issue, gives it to Parmenides.
Despite controversial issues, the merits of the Pythagorean school in cosmology and mathematics are indisputable. According to Aristotle, the real ones were the acousmatists, who followed the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. They viewed mathematics as a science that came not so much from their teacher as from one of the Pythagoreans, Hippasus.
Works created by Pythagoras
This thinker did not write any treatises. It was impossible to compile a work from oral instructions addressed to the common people. And the secret occult teaching, intended for the elite, could not be entrusted to the book either.
Diogenes lists some of the titles of books that allegedly belonged to Pythagoras: “On Nature,” “On the State,” “On Education.” But for the first 200 years after his death, not a single author, including Aristotle, Plato, and their successors at the Lyceum and Academy, quotes from the works of Pythagoras or even indicates their existence. The written works of Pythagoras were unknown to ancient writers from the beginning of the new era. This is reported by Josephus, Plutarch, and Galen.
A compilation of the sayings of this thinker appeared in the 3rd century BC. e. It's called "The Sacred Word". Later, the “Golden Poems” arose from it (which are sometimes attributed, without good reason, to the 4th century BC, when the biography of Pythagoras is considered by various authors).
The name of Pythagoras was always surrounded by many legends even during his lifetime. For example, it was believed that he was able to control spirits, knew the language of animals, knew how to prophesy, and birds could change the direction of their flight under the influence of his speeches. Legends also attributed to Pythagoras the ability to heal people, using, among other things, excellent knowledge of various medicinal plants. The influence of this personality on those around him is difficult to overestimate. A curious episode from the life that the biography of Pythagoras tells us about (interesting facts about him are by no means exhausted by it) is this: one day he became angry with one of his students, who committed suicide out of grief. From then on, the philosopher decided never to take out his irritation on people again.
You were presented with a biography of Pythagoras, a brief summary of the life and work of this great man. We have tried to describe events based on different opinions, since it is incorrect to judge this thinker based on only one source. The information available about him is very contradictory. Biography of Pythagoras for children usually does not take these contradictions into account. It represents in an extremely simplified and one-sided way the fate and legacy of this person. A short biography of Pythagoras for children is studied at school. We tried to reveal it in more detail in order to deepen readers’ understanding of this person.
Biographical sources
Unfortunately, history has preserved too few facts about the biography of Pythagoras, so we can reconstruct it only from scattered information, and even then very approximately. But, nevertheless, no matter what we use as a source of biographical information, we will always talk about the fact that from his very birth he had occult abilities and the desire to learn the secrets of the world.
Birth of Pythagoras
One of the legends says that when Pythagoras’ mother was already carrying a child under her heart, in an effort to find out his future, she turned to the Delphic oracle (it was at that time that she accompanied her husband to Delphi on his trading business). The oracle replied that she would give birth to a boy who would surpass all people in wisdom and become the spiritual light of humanity.
This prophecy impressed the couple so much that they named the newborn in honor of the fortuneteller (“Pythia”), that is, Pythagoras. They thought that their son would grow up to be a prophet.
Although some legends generally claim that Pythagoras was simply a god who descended to earth to bring people the light of knowledge. This always happens when someone becomes so great that it is difficult for the average person to imagine how a simple person could undertake so much spiritual and physical effort to achieve greatness.
There is, so to speak, a “middle” option: according to some legends, Pythagoras’ mother had intercourse with Apollo himself, and therefore he himself was born half-man, half-god.
If we adhere to historical chronology, then Pythagoras was born presumably somewhere between 600 and 590 AD. before the birth of Christ.
The Life and Death of Pythagoras
Pythagoras traveled a lot in his youth and adulthood, and wherever fate took him, he tried to gain new knowledge, especially esoteric knowledge. It is believed that he was initiated into the Egyptian, Babylonian and Chaldean Mysteries. And, quite possibly, he was trained even by Indian mystics.
Upon returning home, he founded his own school, which will be discussed below. He spent the rest of his life mentoring students. But when he was sixty years old, he married one of his students, who subsequently bore him seven children.
By the way, she was a match for him - a wonderful and selfless woman who not only inspired him for the rest of his life, but also after his death continued to spread the Teaching
Naturally, like any brilliant and great man, Pythagoras aroused envy and hostility from those who indulged their weaknesses, who lived by envy. And since, in addition to educational activities, Pythagoras also led an active socio-political life, a great many such enemies accumulated over time.
Personality of Pythagoras
Pythagoras was famous not only as a man of extensive knowledge and deep wisdom, but also as one who achieved complete harmony between the external and the internal, that is, total integrity. His contemporaries noted that he was impeccable in everything - in science, esotericism, everyday affairs, morality and magic.
The integrity of Pythagoras is also evidenced by the fact that he was distinguished not only by his intelligence, but also by his physical development. He instructed his students to engage in physical exercise, seeing this as the basis for deep wisdom. Pythagoras himself, by the way, was an excellent fist fighter and wrestling champion! This is who truly embodied the phrase “a healthy mind in a healthy body!”
Pythagoras the philosopher
Some researchers believe that Pythagoras was the first to call himself a philosopher. Therefore, he is credited with “inventing” the term. Legend has it that he was modest and did not want to be called a sage, as was customary in those days. He suggested calling him a philosopher, that is, one who loves wisdom.
Pythagoras the magician
There were many rumors about the magical abilities of Pythagoras, and those that spoke of his ability to command animals and birds were especially popular. So, according to one legend, during the next Olympic Games, he called to him an eagle flying in the skies, and it followed all his instructions.
And another story tells that, on the orders of Pythagoras, a bear, which had previously been annoying the townspeople, left one settlement.
Pythagoras was also credited with the gift of clairvoyance and prediction (that is, his parents were not mistaken in some ways).
In addition, there were rumors that he could control demons and spirits.
Pythagoras the healer
Pythagoras gained no less fame as a gifted healer. He had an excellent knowledge of medicinal herbs, about which, according to legend, he even wrote a book.
His healing arsenal included poultices, various magical techniques and even music, since he perfectly understood its deeply psychological effect on the human mind. And since he himself was a wonderful musician, he composed special harmonies for various diseases.
In addition, Pythagoras experimented with the effects of color on the human psyche.
Pythagoras Academy
As mentioned above, having returned from his wanderings, Pythagoras founded his school in Croton or, as it was also called, the Pythagorean Academy, which later became known throughout the world.
The discipline at school was very strict, since Pythagoras believed that only it was capable of forging a real Spirit. But by strict discipline one should in no way mean cruel; on the contrary, a lot of attention was paid to the development of the aesthetic side of students.
Pythagoras tried to comprehensively educate his followers. To develop concentration, attentiveness and memory, he forbade writing anything down. Therefore, they had no choice but to be extremely focused so as not to miss anything from the teacher’s words and remember his science for the rest of their lives. This, on the one hand, contributed to their rapid intellectual development, and on the other hand, helped to keep esoteric knowledge secret.
Also, in addition, Pythagoras insisted that his students talk as little as possible, since he believed that in silence wisdom becomes deeper. That is why his school also became famous for the fact that silence was practiced there - as a means of comprehending secret knowledge and as a test.
Another important point of studying at the school of Pythagoras was the requirement to follow a vegetarian diet. He believed that eating meat obscured one's mental faculties.
The Pythagorean Academy taught mathematics (both arithmetic and geometry itself, and the “secret teaching of numbers,” that is, their esoteric meaning), astronomy, music and other sciences. Pythagoras believed that the study of geometry, music and astronomy was essential for understanding God, man and Nature.
In the secret part of his teaching, Pythagoras expounded to his disciples the doctrine of the immortality of the human soul and how it passes from one body to another after death. As an example, he often talked about his own past lives.
Death of Pythagoras
Pythagoras denied many people access to secret occult knowledge, for which they hated him and tried with all their might to take revenge. This is exactly what one of the legends tells about. One of these “rejected” swore revenge - to destroy the school of Pythagoras and him personally. And then one day a gang of murderers set fire to all the buildings of the Academy. As a result, saving his students, Pythagoras died.
There is another version of the death of Pythagoras, set out in one of Manly Hall’s books: “Another version says that in a burning house, the students formed a bridge from bodies, entering the fire alive so that their teacher would walk across it and be saved, and only later did Pythagoras die of a broken heart, grieving over the seeming futility of his efforts to educate and serve humanity.”
Old Greek Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, lat. Pythagoras, "Pythian broadcaster"
ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician and mystic, creator of the religious and philosophical school of the Pythagoreans
570 - 490 BC e.
Pythagoras
short biography
Pythagoras- ancient Greek idealist philosopher, mathematician, founder of Pythagoreanism, political and religious figure. His homeland was the island of Samos (hence the nickname - Samos), where he was born around 580 BC. e. His father was a gem cutter. According to ancient sources, Pythagoras was distinguished by amazing beauty from birth; when he became an adult, he wore a long beard and a diadem of gold. His talent also showed itself at an early age.
Pythagoras's education was very good; the young man was taught by many mentors, among whom were Pherecydes of Syros and Hermodamant. The next place where Pythagoras improved his knowledge was Miletus, where he met Thales, a scientist who advised him to go to Egypt. Pythagoras had with him a letter of recommendation from the pharaoh himself, but the priests shared their secrets with him only after successfully passing difficult tests. Among the sciences that he mastered well in Egypt was mathematics. For the next 12 years he lived in Babylon, where the priests also shared their knowledge with him. According to legends, Pythagoras also visited India.
The return to their homeland took place around 530 BC. e. The status of half-court and half-slave under the tyrant Polycrates did not seem attractive to him, and he lived in caves for some time, after which he moved to Proton. Perhaps the reason for his departure lay in his philosophical views. Pythagoras was an idealist, a supporter of the slave-owning aristocracy, and in his native Ionia democratic views were very popular, their adherents had considerable influence.
In Croton, Pythagoras organized his own school, which was both a political structure and a religious monastic order with its own charter and very strict rules. In particular, all members of the Pythagorean Union were not supposed to eat meat, reveal the teachings of their mentor to others, and refused to have personal property.
The wave of democratic uprisings that swept through Greece and the colonies at that time also reached Croton. After the victory of democracy, Pythagoras and his students moved to Tarentum, and later to Metapontum. When they arrived in Metapontum, a popular uprising was raging there, and Pythagoras died in one of the night battles. Then he was a very old man, he was almost 90. Along with him, his school ceased to exist, the students were dispersed throughout the country.
Since Pythagoras considered his teaching a secret and practiced only oral transmission to his students, no collected works remained after him. Some information did become clear, but it is incredibly difficult to distinguish between truth and fiction. A number of historians doubt that the famous Pythagorean theorem was proven by him, arguing that it was known to other ancient peoples.
The name of Pythagoras has always been surrounded by a large number of legends, even during his lifetime. It was believed that he could control spirits, knew how to prophesy, knew the language of animals, communicated with them, birds, under the influence of his speeches, could change their flight vector. Legends also attributed to Pythagoras the ability to heal people, including with the help of an excellent knowledge of medicinal plants. His influence on those around him was difficult to overestimate. They tell the following episode from the biography of Pythagoras: when one day he became angry with a student, he committed suicide out of grief. Since then, the philosopher has made it a rule never to take out his irritation on people again.
In addition to proving the Pythagorean theorem, this mathematician is credited with a detailed study of integers, proportions and their properties. The Pythagoreans owe significant credit for giving geometry the character of a science. Pythagoras was one of the first who was convinced that the Earth is a ball and the center of the Universe, that the planets, the Moon, the Sun move in a special way, not like stars. To a certain extent, the ideas of the Pythagoreans about the movement of the Earth became the forerunner of the heliocentric teachings of N. Copernicus.
Biography from Wikipedia
The life story of Pythagoras is difficult to separate from the legends that present him as a perfect sage and great scientist, initiated into all the mysteries of the Greeks and barbarians. Herodotus also called him “the greatest Hellenic sage.” The main sources on the life and teachings of Pythagoras are the works of the Neoplatonist philosopher Iamblichus (242-306) “ About Pythagorean life"; Porphyria (234-305) " Life of Pythagoras"; Diogenes Laertius (200-250) book. 8, " Pythagoras" These authors relied on the writings of earlier authors, of which it should be noted that Aristotle's student Aristoxenus (370-300 BC) was from Tarentum, where the Pythagorean position was strong. Thus, the earliest known sources about the teachings of Pythagoras did not appear until 200 years after his death. Pythagoras himself did not leave any writings, and all information about him and his teachings is based on the works of his followers, who are not always impartial.
Pythagoras' parents were Mnesarchus and Parthenides from the island of Samos. Mnesarchus was a stone cutter (D. L.); according to Porphyry, he was a rich merchant from Tyre, who received Samian citizenship for distributing grain in a lean year. The first version is preferable, since Pausanias gives the genealogy of Pythagoras in the male line from Hippasus from the Peloponnesian Phlius, who fled to Samos and became the great-grandfather of Pythagoras. Parthenida, later renamed Pyphaida by her husband, came from the noble family of Ankeus, the founder of the Greek colony on Samos.
The birth of a child was allegedly predicted by Pythia in Delphi, which is why Pythagoras got his name, which means “ the one announced by the Pythia" In particular, Pythia told Mnesarchus that Pythagoras would bring as much benefit and goodness to people as no one else had brought or would bring in the future. Therefore, to celebrate, Mnesarchus gave his wife a new name, Pyphaidas, and his child, Pythagoras. Pyphaida accompanied her husband on his travels, and Pythagoras was born in Sidon Phoenician (according to Iamblichus) around 570 BC. e. From an early age he discovered extraordinary talent (also according to Iamblichus).
According to ancient authors, Pythagoras met with almost all the famous sages of that era, Greeks, Persians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and absorbed all the knowledge accumulated by humanity. In popular literature, Pythagoras is sometimes credited with the Olympic victory in boxing, confusing Pythagoras the philosopher with his namesake (Pythagoras, son of Crates of Samos), who won his victory at the 48th Games 18 years before the famous philosopher was born.
At a young age, Pythagoras went to Egypt to gain wisdom and secret knowledge from the Egyptian priests. Diogenes and Porphyry write that the Samian tyrant Polycrates provided Pythagoras with a letter of recommendation to Pharaoh Amasis, thanks to which he was allowed to study and was initiated not only into the Egyptian achievements of medicine and mathematics, but also into the sacraments forbidden to other foreigners.
Iamblichus writes that Pythagoras, at the age of 18, left his native island and, having traveled around the sages in different parts of the world, reached Egypt, where he stayed for 22 years, until he was taken to Babylon as a captive by the Persian king Cambyses, who conquered Egypt in 525 BC. . e. Pythagoras stayed in Babylon for another 12 years, communicating with magicians, until he was finally able to return to Samos at the age of 56, where his compatriots recognized him as a wise man.
According to Porphyry, Pythagoras left Samos due to disagreement with the tyrannical power of Polycrates at the age of 40. Since this information is based on the words of Aristoxenus, a source of the 4th century BC. e., are considered relatively reliable. Polycrates came to power in 535 BC. e., hence the date of birth of Pythagoras is estimated at 570 BC. e., if we assume that he left for Italy in 530 BC. e. Iamblichus reports that Pythagoras moved to Italy in the 62nd Olympiad, that is, in 532-529. BC e. This information is in good agreement with Porphyry, but completely contradicts the legend of Iamblichus himself (or rather, one of his sources) about the Babylonian captivity of Pythagoras. It is not known for sure whether Pythagoras visited Egypt, Babylon or Phenicia, where, according to legend, he acquired eastern wisdom. Diogenes Laertius quotes Aristoxenus, who said that Pythagoras received his teaching, at least as regards instructions on the way of life, from the priestess Themistocleia of Delphi, that is, in places not so remote for the Greeks.
Disagreements with the tyrant Polycrates could hardly have been the reason for Pythagoras’s departure; rather, he needed the opportunity to preach his ideas and, moreover, to put his teaching into practice, which was difficult to do in Ionia and mainland Hellas, where many people experienced in matters of philosophy and politics lived. Iamblichus reports:
« His philosophy spread, all of Hellas began to admire him, and the best and wisest men came to him on Samos, wanting to listen to his teaching. His fellow citizens, however, forced him to participate in all embassies and public affairs. Pythagoras felt how difficult it was, obeying the laws of the fatherland, to simultaneously engage in philosophy, and saw that all the previous philosophers lived their lives in foreign lands. Having thought all this over, withdrawing from public affairs and, as some say, considering the low appreciation of his teachings by the Samians insufficient, he left for Italy, considering his fatherland a country where there were more people capable of learning.»
Pythagoras settled in the Greek colony of Crotone in southern Italy, where he found many followers. They were attracted not only by the mystical philosophy that he convincingly expounded, but also by the way of life he prescribed with elements of healthy asceticism and strict morality. Pythagoras preached the moral ennoblement of the ignorant people, which can be achieved where power belongs to a caste of wise and knowledgeable people, and to whom the people obey in some ways unconditionally, like children to their parents, and in other respects consciously, submitting to moral authority. Tradition ascribes to Pythagoras the introduction of the words philosophy and philosopher.
The disciples of Pythagoras formed a kind of religious order, or brotherhood of initiates, consisting of a caste of selected like-minded people who literally deified their teacher, the founder of the order. This order actually came to power in Crotone, but due to anti-Pythagorean sentiments at the end of the 6th century. BC e. Pythagoras had to retire to another Greek colony, Metapontus, where he died. Almost 450 years later, during the time of Cicero (1st century BC), the crypt of Pythagoras was shown in Metaponte as one of the attractions.
Pythagoras had a wife named Theano, a son Telaugus and a daughter Miya (according to another version, a son Arimnest and a daughter Arignot).
According to Iamblichus, Pythagoras led his secret society for thirty-nine years, then the approximate date of Pythagoras' death can be attributed to 491 BC. e., to the beginning of the era of the Greco-Persian wars. Diogenes, referring to Heraclides (IV century BC), says that Pythagoras died peacefully at the age of 80, or at 90 (according to other unnamed sources). This implies the date of death is 490 BC. e. (or 480 BC, which is unlikely). Eusebius of Caesarea in his chronography designated 497 BC. e. as the year of Pythagoras' death.
Defeat of the Pythagorean League
Among the followers and students of Pythagoras there were many representatives of the nobility who tried to change the laws in their cities in accordance with Pythagorean teaching. This was superimposed on the usual struggle of that era between the oligarchic and democratic parties in ancient Greek society. The discontent of the majority of the population, who did not share the ideals of the philosopher, resulted in bloody riots in Croton and Tarentum.
« The Pythagoreans formed a large community (there were more than three hundred of them), but it constituted only a small part of the city, which was no longer governed according to the same customs and mores. However, while the Crotonians owned their land, and Pythagoras was with them, the state structure that existed from the foundation of the city was preserved, although there were dissatisfied people who were waiting for an opportunity for a coup. But when they conquered Sybaris, Pythagoras left, and the Pythagoreans who ruled the conquered land did not distribute it by lot, as the majority wanted, then hidden hatred flared up, and many citizens opposed them... The relatives of the Pythagoreans were even more irritated by what they were serving right hand only to their own, and from relatives - only to parents, and that they provide their property for common use, and it is separated from the property of relatives. When the relatives began this hostility, the rest readily joined the conflict... After many years... the Crotonians were overcome by regret and repentance, and they decided to return to the city those Pythagoreans who were still alive.»
Many Pythagoreans died, the survivors scattered throughout Italy and Greece. The German historian F. Schlosser notes regarding the defeat of the Pythagoreans: “ The attempt to transfer caste and clerical life to Greece and, contrary to the spirit of the people, to change its political structure and morals according to the requirements of an abstract theory ended in complete failure.»
According to Porphyry, Pythagoras himself died as a result of the anti-Pythagorean rebellion in Metapontus, but other authors do not confirm this version, although they readily convey the story that the dejected philosopher starved himself to death in the sacred temple.
Philosophical teaching
Pythagoras in a fresco by Raphael (1509)
The teachings of Pythagoras should be divided into two components: the scientific approach to understanding the world and the religious and mystical way of life preached by Pythagoras. The merits of Pythagoras in the first part are not known for certain, since everything created by followers within the school of Pythagoreanism was later attributed to him. The second part prevails in the teachings of Pythagoras, and it is this part that remained in the minds of most ancient authors.
Quite complete information about the ideas about the transmigration of souls developed by Pythagoras and the food prohibitions based on them is given by Empedocles’ poem “Purifications”.
In his surviving works, Aristotle never directly addresses Pythagoras directly, but only to “the so-called Pythagoreans.” In lost works (known from excerpts), Aristotle views Pythagoras as the founder of a semi-religious cult that forbade the eating of beans and had a golden thigh, but did not belong to the sequence of thinkers who preceded Aristotle.
Plato treated Pythagoras with the deepest reverence and respect. When the Pythagorean Philolaus first published 3 books outlining the main principles of Pythagoreanism, Plato, on the advice of friends, immediately bought them for a lot of money.
The activity of Pythagoras as a religious innovator of the 6th century. BC e. was to create a secret society that not only set itself political goals (because of which the Pythagoreans were defeated in Croton), but mainly the liberation of the soul through moral and physical purification with the help of secret teaching (mystical teaching about the cycle of migration of the soul). According to Pythagoras, the eternal soul moves from heaven into the mortal body of a person or animal and undergoes a series of migrations until it earns the right to return back to heaven.
The acusmata (sayings) of Pythagoras contain ritual instructions: about the cycle of human lives, behavior, sacrifices, burials, nutrition. Akusmats are formulated succinctly and understandably for any person; they also contain postulates of universal morality. A more complex philosophy, within the framework of which mathematics and other sciences developed, was intended for “initiates,” that is, selected people worthy of possessing secret knowledge. The scientific component of Pythagoras' teachings developed in the 5th century. BC e. through the efforts of his followers (Architas from Tarentum, Philolaus from Croton, Hippasus from Metapontus), but came to naught in the 4th century. BC e., while the mystical-religious component received its development and rebirth in the form of neo-Pythagoreanism during the Roman Empire.
The merit of the Pythagoreans was the promotion of ideas about the quantitative laws of the development of the world, which contributed to the development of mathematical, physical, astronomical and geographical knowledge. Numbers are the basis of things, Pythagoras taught, to know the world means to know the numbers that control it. By studying numbers, the Pythagoreans developed numerical relationships and found them in all areas of human activity. Numbers and proportions were studied in order to know and describe the human soul, and, having learned it, to manage the process of transmigration of souls with the ultimate goal of sending the soul to some higher divine state.
As I. D. Rozhansky noted: “Despite the remnants of magical thinking, the basic idea of Pythagoras that all things are based on numbers or ratios of numbers turned out to be very fruitful.” As Stobaeus noted: “Apparently, Pythagoras revered the science of numbers most of all (sciences), he advanced it forward, taking it beyond its use in trade and expressing it, modeling all things with numbers” (1, “Proemius”, 6, p. . 20).
Despite the popular opinion that Pythagoras was supposedly a vegetarian, Diogenes Laertius writes that Pythagoras occasionally ate fish, abstained only from arable bulls and rams, and allowed other animals for food.
His contemporary Heraclitus acted as a critic of Pythagoras: “ Pythagoras, the son of Mnesarchus, was engaged in collecting information more than any other person in the world and, having taken these works for himself, passed off knowledge and fraud as his own wisdom“According to Diogenes Laertius, in the continuation of the famous saying of Heraclitus “Much knowledge does not teach the mind,” Pythagoras is mentioned among others: “otherwise it would have taught Hesiod and Pythagoras, as well as Xenophanes and Hecataeus.”
Scientific achievements
In the modern world, Pythagoras is considered the great mathematician and cosmologist of antiquity, but early evidence before the 3rd century. BC e. they do not mention such merits of his. As Iamblichus writes about the Pythagoreans: “ They also had the remarkable custom of attributing everything to Pythagoras and not at all arrogating to themselves the glory of discoverers, except perhaps in a few cases».
Ancient authors of our era give Pythagoras the authorship of the famous theorem: the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the legs. This opinion is based on the information of Apollodorus the calculator (personality not identified) and on poetic lines (the source of the poems is unknown):
“On the day when Pythagoras discovered his famous drawing,
He erected a glorious sacrifice for him with bulls.”
Modern historians suggest that Pythagoras did not prove the theorem, but could have conveyed this knowledge to the Greeks, known in Babylon 1000 years before Pythagoras (according to Babylonian clay tablets recording mathematical equations). Although there is doubt about the authorship of Pythagoras, there are no weighty arguments to dispute this.
Judging by the brief biography of Pythagoras, his life was filled with amazing events, and his contemporaries considered him perhaps the most outstanding scientist of all times and peoples, initiated into all the secrets of the Universe.
Historical evidence of the origin of Pythagoras has been preserved. His father was Mnesarchus, a native of Tyre, who received citizenship of Samos, and his mother was Parthenides or Pyphaidas, who was a relative of Ankeus, the founder of the Greek colony on Samos.
Education
If you follow the official biography of Pythagoras, then at the age of 18 he went to Egypt, to the court of Pharaoh Amasis, to whom he was sent by the Samian tyrant Polycrates. Thanks to his patronage, Pythagoras was taught by the Egyptian priests and was admitted to the temple libraries. It is believed that the sage spent about 22 years in Egypt.
Babylonian captivity
Pythagoras came to Babylon as a prisoner of King Cambyses. He stayed in the country for about 12 years, studying with local magicians and priests. At the age of 56, he returned to his native Samos.
Philosophical school
Evidence indicates that after all his wanderings, Pythagoras settled in Crotona (Southern Italy). There he founded a philosophical school, more like a kind of religious order (the followers of Pythagoras believed that transmigration of the soul and reincarnation were possible; they believed that a person should earn a place in the world of the Gods by good deeds, and until this happens, the soul will continue to return to Earth, “ “inhabiting” the body of an animal or a person), where not only knowledge was promoted, but also a special way of life.
It was Pythagoras and his students, whose teacher’s authority was unquestionable, who introduced the words “philosophy” and “philosopher” into circulation. This order actually came to power in Crotone, but due to the spread of anti-Pythagorean sentiment, the philosopher was forced to leave for the city of Metapontus, where he died in approximately 491 BC.
Personal life
The name of Pythagoras' wife is known - Theano. It is also known that the philosopher had a son and daughter.
Discoveries
It was Pythagoras, as most researchers believe, who discovered the famous theorem that the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the legs.
Pythagoras's eternal opponent was Heraclitus, who believed that “much knowledge” is not a sign of a real philosophical mind. Aristotle never quoted Pythagoras in his works, but Plato considered Pythagoras the greatest philosopher of Greece, bought the works of the Pythagoreans and often quoted their opinions in his works.
Other biography options
- It is interesting that the birth of Pythagoras was predicted by the Delphic Pythia (hence the name, because “Pythagoras” translated from Greek means “predicted by Pythia”). The boy's father was warned that his son would be born unusually gifted and would bring a lot of benefit to people.
- Many biographers describe the life of Pythagoras differently. There are certain discrepancies in the works of Heraclides, Ephsebius of Caesarea, Diogenes, and Porphyry. According to the latter’s works, the philosopher either died as a result of the anti-Pythagorean rebellion, or starved himself to death in one of the temples, as he was not satisfied with the results of his work.
- There is an opinion that Pythagoras was a vegetarian and only occasionally allowed himself to eat fish. Asceticism in everything is one of the components of the teachings of the Pythagorean philosophical school.
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Dictionary
PYTHAGORAS(Greek) The most famous of the mystic philosophers, born on Samos around 586 BC. Apparently, he traveled all over the world and collected his philosophy from the various systems to which he had access. Thus, he studied esoteric sciences from the Brachmanes of India, astronomy and astrology in Chaldea and Egypt. In India he is still known by the name Yavanacharya("The Ionian Teacher"). Upon his return, he settled in Crotone, in southern Italy, where he founded a school, which very soon was joined by all the best minds of civilized centers. His father was a certain Mnesarchus of Samos, a man of noble birth and education. It was Pythagoras who first taught the heliocentric system and was the greatest expert in geometry of his age. It was also he who formed the word “philosopher”, made up of two words meaning “lover of wisdom” - philo-sophos. As the greatest mathematician, geometer and astronomer of historical antiquity, as well as the most profound of metaphysicians and scientists, Pythagoras won unfading fame. He taught reincarnation as practiced in India, and much more of the Secret Wisdom.
Source: Blavatskaya E.P. - Theosophical Dictionary
The Secret Doctrine, Volume 1
As for the Pythagoreans, we should only turn to the ancient manuscripts of Boethius' treatise "De Arithmetica", compiled in the sixth century to find among the Pythagorean numbers "I" and "O" as the first and last sign. And Porphyry, quoting extracts from Pythagoras' Moderatus, says that Pythagoras' numbers were "hieroglyphic symbols by means of which he explained ideas relating to the nature of things," or the beginning of the Universe.
Now, if, on the one hand, no traces of decimal calculation have yet been found in the most ancient Manuscripts of India, and Max Muller states very definitely that so far he has found only nine initial letters of Sanskrit numbers, then, on the other hand, we have records equally ancient, which can provide us with the necessary evidence. We are talking about statues and sacred images in the most ancient temples of the Far East. Pythagoras received his knowledge in India. And we see that Prof. Max Müller confirms this statement, at least enough to admit that the Neo-Pythagoreans were the first teachers of "numerical reckoning" among the Greeks and Romans; that they in “Alexandria or Syria became acquainted with Hindu signs and applied them to "Abacus" Pythagoras." This cautious assumption suggests that Pythagoras himself was familiar with only nine signs. Thus we can justly answer that although we have no exoteric reliable evidence that the decimal number was known to Pythagoras, who lived at the end of archaic times, nevertheless we have enough evidence that all the numbers are completely as given by Boethius , were known to the Pythagoreans even before the construction of Alexandria itself. We find this evidence in Aristotle, who says that “some philosophers maintain that ideas and numbers are identical in nature and generally achieve ten". We think that this is sufficient proof that decimal notation was known to them at least four centuries before Christ, for Aristotle, apparently, does not discuss this issue as an innovation of the neo-Pythagoreans.
This will help the researcher understand why Pythagoras considered the Divinity - Logos, the center of Unity and the Source of Harmony. We affirm that this Deity was the Logos, but not the Monad, abiding in Solitude and Silence, for Pythagoras taught that Unity, being indivisible, is not a number. And that is why it was also required that the candidate who sought admission to his school should already have a preliminary knowledge of arithmetic, astronomy, geometry and music, which were considered as four branches of mathematics. This again explains why the Pythagoreans argued that the doctrine of Numbers, the most important in Esotericism, was revealed to man by the Heavenly Deities; that the World was called out of Chaos by Sound or Harmony, and built according to the principles of musical proportions; and that the seven planets which govern the destinies of mortals have a harmonious motion and, as Censorinus says:
“The intervals corresponding to musical diastemas produce various sounds, so perfectly in tune that they give rise to the most beautiful melody, inaudible to us only due to the strength of the sound, which our ear is not able to perceive.”
In the Pythagorean Theogony, the Hierarchies of the Heavenly Host and Gods were listed and also expressed numerically. Pythagoras studied Esoteric Science in India; That's why his disciples say:
“The Monad (Manifest) is the beginning of everything. From the Monad and the indefinite Dyad (Chaos) came Numbers; from Numbers - Points; from Points - Lines; from Lines - Surfaces; from Surfaces – solid bodies; from them are solid bodies that have four elements - Fire, Water, Air and Earth, from all of them, transformed (by interaction) and completely changed, and the World consists."
And this, if it does not completely resolve the mystery, then, in any case, lifts a corner of the veil from those wonderful allegories behind which Vak, the most hidden of all Brahmanic Goddesses, hides; the one called: " mellifluous The cow that gives Food and Water” - the Earth with all its mystical powers; and again the one “that gives us food and reinforcement” - the physical Earth.
< ... >anyone who has studied the numerical evolution in the primitive cosmogony of Pythagoras - a contemporary of Confucius - will not fail to discern the same idea in his Triad, Tetractys and Decade, emanating from the One and solitary Monad.
For Pythagoras, the Powers were Spiritual Entities, Gods, independent of the Planets and Matter as we see and know them on Earth, and who are the Rulers of the Starry Heavens.
From the very beginning of the eons - in time and space, in our Circle and Planet - the secrets of Nature (in any case, those that are legitimate for our Races to know) were captured in geometric figures and symbols by the disciples of the same now invisible “Heavenly Men” . The keys to them were passed from one generation of “Wise Men” to another. Some of the symbols thus passed from East to West, brought from the East by Pythagoras, who was not the inventor of his famous "Triangle". The last figure, together with the square and the circle, is a more eloquent and scientific description of the order of evolution of the Universe, spiritual and psychic as well as physical, than the volumes of descriptive Cosmogonies and revelations of the "Genesises". The ten points inscribed within the “Pythagorean triangle” are worth all the theogonies and angelologies that have ever issued from the theological brain. For he who interprets these seventeen points (seven hidden mathematical points) - as they are, and in this order - will find in them an unbroken series of genealogies from the first Heavenly Man to the earthly. And just as they give the order of Beings, they also reveal the order in which the Cosmos, our Earth and the original Elements that gave birth to it evolved. Since the Earth was conceived in the invisible “Depths” and in the Womb of the same “Mother”, like its satellite planets, the one who masters the secrets of our Earth will master the secrets of all other planets.
< ... >Nevertheless, for the Eastern occultist, at heart an objective idealist, in valid In the World, which is the Unity of Forces, there is a “connection of all Matter in the Plenum,” as Leibniz would say. This is symbolized in the Pythagorean Triangle.
It consists of ten Points inscribed like a pyramid (from one to four) inside its three sides, and symbolizes the Universe in the famous Pythagorean Decade. The upper point is the Monad and represents the Unit Point, which represents the Unity from which everything comes. Everything is one in essence with her. While the ten points within the isosceles Triangle represent the phenomenal world, the three sides enclosing the pyramid of points are the limits noumenal Matter or Substance, separating it from the world of Thought.
"Pythagoras considered point, as proportionally corresponding to the unit; line – 2; surface – 3; body- 4; and he defined the point as a monad having a position, and as the beginning of all things. The line was supposed to correspond to binary, for it was produced by the first movement from the indivisible nature and formed the union of two points. The surface was compared with the number 3, because it is the first of all causes found in figures, for the circle, which is the basis of all round figures, contains a triad consisting of: center - space - circle. But the triangle, the first of all rectilinear figures, is included in the quadrilateral and receives its form according to this number; he was considered by the Pythagoreans as the creator of all sublunary things. The four points at the base of the Pythagorean Triangle correspond to the body or cube, which contains the principles of length, breadth and thickness, for no body can have less than four limiting points."
It is objected that “the human mind cannot imagine an indivisible unit without destroying the idea itself and its subject.” This is a fallacy, as the Pythagoreans and many seers before them proved, although special training for this idea is necessary; and although the uninitiated mind will hardly comprehend it, there are such things as " Meta-mathematics" And " Meta-geometry" Even pure and simple mathematics proceeds from the general to the particular, from the mathematical indivisible point to the solids. This doctrine originated in India, and was taught in Europe by Pythagoras, who, casting a veil over the Circle and the Point - which no mortal can define except by incomprehensible abstractions - laid the beginning of differentiated cosmic Matter at the base of the Triangle. So the latter became the very first of the geometric figures. Author " New Aspects of Life“, discussing the Kabbalistic mysteries, objects to the objectification, so to speak, of the representation of Pythagoras and against the use of an isosceles triangle, calling it a “false name.” His objection is that an equilateral body:
“the base, which, like each of its sides, is formed by equal triangles, must have four congruent sides or surfaces, while a triangular plane will also inevitably have five.”
- proves, on the contrary, the greatness of representation in all its esoteric application to the idea pregenesis and the genesis of the Cosmos. Assuming that the ideal Triangle, delineated by mathematical imaginary lines,
“cannot have any sides, being just a ghost created by the mind, and if sides are given to it, then they must be sides of the object constructively represented by it.”
But in this case, most of the scientific hypotheses are nothing more than “mental ghosts”; they are unverifiable except by inference, and were adopted only to meet the needs of science. Moreover, the ideal Triangle - "as the abstract idea of a triangular body and therefore as a type of abstract idea" - answered perfectly the dual symbolism that was in mind. As an emblem, applied to an objective idea, the simple triangle became a body. Repeated from stone, facing the four cardinal directions, it took the form of a pyramid - a symbol of the merging of the phenomenal world with the noumenal Universe of Thought at the top of four triangles; and, as “an imaginary figure constructed from three mathematical lines,” it symbolizes the subjective spheres—these lines “enclose mathematical space—which is the same as nothing enclosing nothing.” And this is only because for the feelings and untrained consciousness of the layman and the scientist, everything that is outside the line of differentiated Matter - that is, outside and beyond the realm of even the Spiritual itself Substances, – must remain forever equal this nothing. This is Ein-Sof.
However, these “Ghosts of the Mind” are, in reality, no more abstractions than the generally abstract ideas of evolution and physical development - for example, Gravity, Matter and Forces, etc. - on which the exact sciences are based. Our most outstanding chemists and physicists persistently persist in their not hopeless attempts to finally trace Protylus to its hiding place, or the base line of the Pythagorean Triangle. The latter, as already indicated, is the greatest idea that is accessible to the imagination, for it, at the same time, symbolizes the ideal and visible Universe. For if
« A possible unit is only a possibility, as the reality of nature; like some kind of individuality(and how), each individual natural object is subject to division and, as a result of division, loses its unity or ceases to be a unit”,then this is true only in the field of exact science, in a world that is as deceptive as it is illusory. In the field of Esoteric Science, Unit divisible ad infinitum, instead of losing its unity, with each division it approaches the plans of the One Eternal REALITY. The eye of the Seer can trace it and behold it in all its pregenetic glory. The same idea about the reality of the subjective Universe and the unreality of the objective lies in the foundations of the teachings of Pythagoras and Plato - accessible only to the elite; for Porphyry, speaking of the Monad and the Dyad, expresses that only the former was considered substantial and real - “that same simple Being, the cause of all unity and the measure of all things.”
The Secret Doctrine, Volume 2
Pillar and Circle (10), which, according to Pythagoras, represent the perfect number contained in the Square
Odd numbers are divine even numbers are earthly, devilish and unlucky. The Pythagoreans hated the Two. For them it was the beginning of differentiation, therefore of oppositions, disharmony or matter, the beginning of evil.
< ... >The Pythagoreans taught the connection and relationship between the Gods and numbers through a science called Arithmomantia. The soul is a number, they said, which moves by itself and contains the number 4; spiritual and physical man is the number 3, for the Trinity represented for them not only the surface, but also the principle of the formation of the physical body. Thus, animals represent only the Trinity, and only man represents the sevenfold, when he is virtuous and fivefold in the opposite case
The Secret Doctrine Volume 3
the doctrines of Pythagoras are oriental to the core and even brahminical, for this great philosopher always pointed to the distant East as the source from where he received his information and his Philosophy
Pythagoras, the first Adept and true scientist in pre-Christian Europe, is accused of teaching publicly that the earth is motionless and the stars move around it, while to his privileged adepts he declared his belief in the motion of the earth as a planet and in the heliocentric system.
Pythagorean symbolism requires even more hard work. His symbols are very numerous and to comprehend even just the main network of his deep doctrines from his Symbolology would require years of study. Its main figures are the square (Tetractys), an equilateral triangle, a point inside a circle, a cube, a triple triangle and, finally, the forty-seventh theorem of Euclidean Elements, the inventor of which was Pythagoras. But with the exception of this theorem, none of the above symbols began their existence with him, as some believe. Thousands of years before him, they were well known in India, from where the Sage of Samos brought them, brought them not as an assumption, but as proven Science, says Porphyry, quoting from the Pythagorean Moderatus.
Pythagoras' numbers were hieroglyphic symbols by which he explained all ideas concerning the nature of things.
Out of his modesty, Pythagoras even refused to be called a philosopher (that is, one who knows everything hidden in visible things; cause and effect, or absolute truth), and called himself simply a Sage striving to comprehend philosophy, or the Wisdom of Love
“Life of Pythagoras,” page 297. “Since Pythagoras,” he adds, “also spent twenty-two years among the adepts of the temples of Egypt, was associated with the magicians in Babylon and was instructed by them in their revered knowledge, there is nothing surprising in that he was skilled in Magic, or Theurgy, and was therefore capable of performing acts that surpass purely human strength and ability, and which seem completely incredible to ordinary people."
< ... >This expression is not to be taken simply literally; for, as in the initiation of some Brotherhoods, it has a secret meaning, as we have just explained: this was hinted at by Pythagoras when he described his feelings after the Initiation and said that he was crowned by the Gods, in whose presence he drank the "waters of life" - in the Hindu mysteries there was a source of life and catfish, sacred drink.
The “God” of Pythagoras, a disciple of the Aryan Sages, is not a personal God. It will be remembered that as a fundamental doctrine he taught that there is an eternal Principle of Unity underlying all forms, changes and other phenomena of the Universe.
< ... >No, it is not in the dead letter of Buddhist literature that scholars can hope to one day find the correct resolution of its metaphysical subtleties. In ancient times, only the Pythagoreans fully understood them, and it was on the incomprehensible (for an ordinary orientalist and materialist) abstractions of Buddhism that Pythagoras substantiated the main teachings of his Philosophy.
< ... >When the spiritual Essence is freed forever from all particles of matter, only then does it enter into the eternal and unchanging Nirvana. She exists in Spirit, in nothingness; as a form, as an image, as a likeness, it is completely destroyed and therefore will no longer die, for only one Spirit is not Maya, but the only Reality in the illusory Universe of ever-transitory forms.
It was on this Buddhist doctrine that the Pythagoreans based the main tenets of their philosophy. “Can the Spirit, which gives life and motion, and shares the nature of light, be reduced to nothingness?” - they are asking. “Can that sentient Spirit in animals, which uses memory, one of the rational properties, die and become nothing?” And Whitelock Bulstrode, in his able defense of Pythagoras, explains this doctrine by adding:
“If you say that they (animals) exhale their Spirits into the air and disappear there, then that’s all I wanted. The air, indeed, is the proper place to receive them, being, according to Laertius, full of souls, and, according to Epicurus, full of atoms, the principles of all things; for even the place where we walk and birds fly has such a spiritual nature that it is invisible and therefore may well be the recipient of forms, since the forms of all bodies are such; we can only see and hear their manifestations; the air itself is too thin and exceeds the capabilities of our age. What then is the ether in the upper region and what are the influences of the forms that descend from there? The Pythagoreans believed that the Spirits of creatures, which are emanations of the most sublime parts of the ether, are emanations, breath, but not form. The ether is perishable - all philosophers agree with this; - and that which is imperishable, so far from destruction when it gets rid of form, which may well claim to be immortality.
“But what is it that has neither body nor form; what is intangible, invisible and indivisible - what exists, and what No?" – Buddhists ask. Answer: “This is Nirvana.” It's there nothing – not a sphere, but rather a state.
Isis Unveiled
There is no doubt that Pythagoras aroused the deepest intellectual sympathies of his age, and his doctrines exercised a powerful influence on the mind of Plato. His cardinal idea was that there is a permanent principle of unity hidden under the forms, changes and other phenomena of the universe. Aristotle claimed that he taught that “numbers are the first principles of all entities.” Ritter expressed the opinion that this Pythagorean formula should be understood symbolically, which is undoubtedly correct.
< ... >Modern science has recognized that all the highest laws of nature take the form of quantitative expression. This is perhaps a more complete development and a more comprehensive confirmation of the Pythagorean doctrine. Numbers were considered as the best representatives of the laws of harmony that exist in space. We also know that in chemistry the study of atoms and their combinations is based on numbers. As Archer Butler put it in this regard:
“The world in all its departments represents living arithmetic in its progressive development and realized geometry in its rest.”
The key to the Pythagorean dogmas is the general formula of unity in multiplicity, the one passing into the multitude and feeding the multitude. This is the ancient doctrine of emanation, expressed in a few words. Even the Apostle Paul accepted it as truth. “Εξ αυτού, και δι αυτοΰ, και εις αυτoν τά πάντα” - Everything is contained from him and through him and in him. This, as you will now see, is purely Indian and Brahmanical:
“When the dissolution - pralaya - reached its end, the Great Essence - Para-Atma or Para-Purusha - the Lord, existing from himself, from whom and through whom everything has come to be and will be, decided to emanate from his own substance various creatures.”
The mystical decade 1+2+3+4=10 is an expression of this idea. One is God, Two is matter, Three is the combination of Monad and Duad (one and two), carrying in themselves the nature of both, is the phenomenal world; The Tetrad, or form of perfection, expresses the emptiness of everything, and the Decade, or the sum of all, includes the entire cosmos. The universe is a combination of thousands of elements, and yet it is the expression of a single spirit - chaos for the senses and cosmos for the mind.
< ... >Whoever studied Pythagoras and his thoughts about the Monad, which, after emanating the Duad, plunges into silence and darkness and thus creates the Triad, understands where the philosophy of the great sage of Samossa came from, and after him Socrates and Plato.
Moss the Sidonian, a physiologist and teacher of anatomy, lived long before the Sage of Samos; and the latter received sacred instructions from his disciples and descendants. Pythagoras, the pure philosopher, deeply penetrating the secrets of Nature, the noble inheritor of the ancient teaching, whose great goal was to free the soul from the fetters imposed by the senses and make it aware of its own powers, must live forever in the memory of mankind.
< ... >The harmony and mathematical balance of the double evolution - spiritual and physical - can only be explained by the universal numbers of Pythagoras, who built his system entirely on the so-called “metric speech” of the Indian Vedas. Only very recently, one of the most zealous scholars of Sanskrit, Martin Haug, undertook the translation of the Aitareya Brahmana from the Rig Veda. Until this time she was completely unknown; and the information obtained from this point unquestionably to the identity of the Pythagorean and Brahmanical systems. In both, esoteric meaning is derived from numbers: in the first system (Pythagorean) - from the mystical connection of each number with everything that the human mind can comprehend; in the second system (brahmanical) - from the number of syllables that make up each mantra.
For example, Taylor clearly proves to us that one of the sayings of Pythagoras: “Do not stir up the fire with a sword,” was widespread among a number of nationalities that did not have the slightest contact with each other. He quotes De Plano Carpini, who discovered that this saying was in use among the Tatars as early as 1246. A Tatar would not, for any price, agree to poke a knife into the fire or touch it with any sharpened or sharpened instrument for fear of cutting the “head of the fire.” The Kamchadals of northeast Asia also considered this a great sin. The Sioux Indians of North America do not dare to touch fire with a needle, a knife, or any other sharp instrument. Kalmyks fear the same thing, and an Abyssinian would rather burn his elbows in a fire than use a knife or ax near the fire. Taylor also calls all these facts “just curious coincidences.” Max Müller, however, thinks that they lose much of their strength from the fact that “at the bottom of them rests the Pythagorean doctrine.” Each saying of Pythagoras, like many ancient sayings, has a double meaning; and while it had an occult physical meaning, expressed literally in his words, it contained a moral instruction, which is explained by Iamblichus in his "On Pythagorean life." This "Do not stir up the fire with a sword" is the ninth symbol in "Teachings" Neoplatonists.
“This symbol,” he says, “calls for prudence.” He points out “the inappropriateness of using harsh words towards a person full of fire and anger, and the harm of arguing with him. For often with impolite words you excite an ignorant person, from which you yourself suffer... Heraclitus also testifies to the truth hidden in this symbol, for he says: “It is difficult to overcome anger, but whatever it is, it should be done for the redemption of the soul.” . And he is right in saying this. For many, having given vent to their anger, changed the state of their souls and preferred death to life. But by properly controlling your tongue and remaining calm, you will create friendship out of discord, the fire of anger will be extinguished, and you will prove that you yourself are not lacking in intelligence. 75 ].
Learned skeptics, as well as ignorant materialists, have made much fun of absurdities, attributed to Pythagoras by his biographer Iamblichus. According to him, the Samian philosopher convinced the bear to give up eating human flesh. Having subjugated the white eagle to his will, he forced it to descend to him from the clouds and, quietly stroking it with his hand, talked to him. Another time, Pythagoras made a bull stop eating beans by simply whispering something in his ear!
< ... >One of the few commentators on ancient Greek and Latin authors who gave credit to the ancients for their mental development is Thomas Taylor. In his translation of Iamblichus' On the Pythagorean Life we find the following lines:
“Since Pythagoras, as Iamblichus informs us, was initiated into all the mysteries of Byblos and Tire, and into the sacred rites of the Syrians, into the mysteries of the Phoenicians, and also that he spent 20 years and 2 years in the sanctuaries of the temples in Egypt, was associated with the magicians of Babylon and received instructions from them in their ancient knowledge, then it is not at all surprising that he was skilled in magic or theurgy, and therefore could do things that surpassed simple human powers and which seemed completely implausible to ordinary people. 75 , With. 297].